My journey as a woman and mother of young children who is dealing with metastatic inflammatory breast cancer

The biggest small town on the planet

That is our running joke about our city. If you meet someone new and talk to them long enough you’ll likely figure out someone you know in common. One time my now husband and I realized that we were talking to someone who was actually a distant cousin of his. I’ve been out of town, and I mean in the Caribbean, and ‘run into’ someone I knew from home on the beach. This is the only place I know of where when you ask someone where they went to school, they tell you their high school.

One of the survivors I know I had met online on a local moms site and we ‘ran into’ each other at chemo. I ‘met’ another survivor who I have been in phone contact with a few days ago at chemo. I even found that the founder of a local survivors/support group and I had a friend in common.

So pair those traits with the fact that I don’t keep my diagnosis a secret and I don’t insist that others do either and it probably isn’t a big surprise that people I don’t talk to often find out that I am ‘sick’ but every once in awhile I still get surprised. My mom got a note from an ex of mine. I loved this guy, we were together for several years, I thought I would marry him, better for both of us that we didn’t and we haven’t spoken in years. I don’t even know of any connections we still have but still he found out. I’m not bothered by it but I will admit I’m curious. My mom said the note was really nice and she sent one back and perhaps he’ll contact me himself at some point.

I guess the basic message of this is that if there is someone that you are considering reaching out to, for whatever reason, and you are maybe not sure if you should, it has been a long time, things ended badly, you have no idea how you would be received… Err on the side of trying. The notes and phone calls and emails and prayers and good thoughts all mean a lot to me and sometimes the timing is exactly what I needed. Some days it really helps to know that someone is thinking about you, even if it isn’t the person you were expecting.

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Ashley I spent the first five years of our friendship doing anything and everything I could to show you just how wonderful you were. I know it has been a long time but the feelings are just as strong as the first time I saw you walk into the theatre. The strength and courage if read about here doesn’t surprise me “You’ve always been an amazing person!” I know you are a survivor.